Cara's Questions:

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Which feeder attracts more birds? A Store bought feeder or a homemade feeder? Does it make a difference? Do the same birds visit both feeders?


What will be needed:
  1. A store bought feeder
  2. Plastic Bottle
  3. Scissors
  4. Wire or string
  5. Place to hang feeder
  6. Birds!!!


Location:
Backyard

Time of Day:
Backyard Mid afternoon

Time needed:
About two to three days
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Kind of Experiment:
Observational Experiment

My Hypothesis:
I really think that this could go either way. There are no really big or significant differences between the feeders except maybe that the store bought feeder is more "high-tech" than the other one. The food isn't going to be different so that doesn't make a difference. I guess you could say that maybe the store bought feeder is more stable and may be easier to get food out of. I think that I am kind of leaning toward the store bought feeder.
1
Independent
The Bird Feeders
2
Dependent
The Birds and the Location
3
Controlled Variables
1. Seed
2. The Place
3. Weather
4. Height
5. Time of day
6. Temperature

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Procedure:
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  1. Buy some kind of bird seed
  2. Buy a bird feeder
  3. Make a feeder
  4. Fill feeders with same kind of food
  5. Find place to hang both feeders
  6. Wait for birds
  7. After a couple of days, look to see if one has less than the other
  8. Record it
  9. Refill Bird feeder again with an equal amount of bird seed
  10. Do experiment two times total
  11. Record all data
  12. Post!!


Results to Experiment:
  1. Number of Birds
Store Bought Feeder
Total
Homemade Feeder
Total
1.
IIIII IIII
9
II
2
2.
IIIII I
6
III
3


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Seed eaten (out of 3 cups)
Homemade
Store Bought
#1
About 2 TBS
2 Cups
#2
About 3 TBS
About 1 1/2 C.

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Notes:
I think that part of the problem of my feeder is that my feeder does not really have a proper ledge for the birds to sit on. Sense I cut it, it's kind of uneven. The other feeder has a good ledge on it. I have done the experiment twice and both times I have gotten basically the same answers. The birds really don't like my feeder. My feeder is probably not as well built as the other one. The store bought feeder also is more stable than mine. A lot of the time on mine, the birds would come to sit on it and it would tilt pretty far.

Types of Birds:
  1. Carolina Wren
  2. Cardinals
  3. GoldfinchesIMG_1628.jpg
  4. House Finch
  5. Blue Bird
  6. Mockingbird (sat on top of the feeder but didn't eat anything.)
  7. Dark- eyed Junco
  8. Tufted Titmouse
  9. Chickadee

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Conclusion:
My hypothesis was some what right. The birds did NOT like my feeder what so ever. I am pretty sure that I figured out all of the real big problems. Over all, the other feeder was a bigger hit on the birds. Basically the same birds visited both feeders and it makes a BIG difference!!!

Date: December 7th, 2010
Due Date: December 8rd, 2010